[Tim D]

I am a boring Ety user...I just use rubbers and quickly stick it in. No lick, stick, twist, and push for me. Foams take too long to use and kinda chafes.

Man, would I love a pair of custom molds to get that perfect fit to so I can tap into even more deep tight bass.

 

[amaynard]

I've been impressed with the ety bass with both types of tips. True you can't feel it in the same way you feel it as you do with direct sound, but it does have slam, and the clarity is incredible (try listening to well recorded organ or acoustic bass).

The pressure that bulds up between the tip and the eardrum appears to be strongly influential on sound quality. With the foam tips (no increase in pressure) the sound is richer, more expansive, but less detailed I find (the increased richness gives the feeling of more bass). Pushing the rubber tips in hard (creating a large pressure build-up) gives a much moredetailed, buth thinner sound. I don't think the deep bass suffers, but the lack of richness indicates upper bass response may be down.

 

[eric343]

You know, I think that's one of the best descriptions of the foam vs. rubber issues yet. I don't think anyone else has posted it but I'm sure we've all noticed it!

 

[amaynard]

Quote:

Originally posted by eric343 You know, I think that's one of the best descriptions of the foam vs. rubber issues yet. I don't think anyone else has posted it but I'm sure we've all noticed it!

Thanks. I've just posted a new thread asking for opinions on the pressure issue.

 

[gerG]

I had the same reaction about the bass response as most posts that I have seen. Even after a couple of months of break in, I found the bass thin, but acceptable when used with an Airhead amp.

Now that I am used to them, the bass from something like HD600s sounds overwhelming (but I like it!). I suspect 2 things about the Etys that make the bass hard to judge:

1 - I can't tell how loud I am playing them! I usually run them at such a low level that when I unplug the real world sounds harsh. That makes it difficult for me to judge if the bass response is down relative to anything else. If I turn them up until the bass seems right, I feel like I have more volume than I need over the rest of the spectrum. I am very protective of my ears, and usually keep the volume as low as I can.

2 - Some of the transient impact seems to be missing. I notice this at other frequencies also. Maybe my ear canals have a slow rise time (hold the cranial density jokes, please). Rounding of the square front end on a wave form can really affect the way a sound is percieved. The Etys will definetly go deep, but some of the percussive impact is lost somewhere. I even experimented with equalization at half octave intervals from 30 to 100hz. More quantity, but same perception of softened bass.

Those issues aside, I still find the ER4S phones amazing and wonderful.